People with similar faces likely have similar DNA, study claims

A collection of photographs of genetically unrelated doppelgangers, as well as DNA analysis, have shown that the strong similarity of faces is associated with common genetic variants, Cell Reports noted.

The study provides a rare insight into human similarity, showing that people with extremely similar faces share common genotypes, while at the epigenome and microbiome level they diverge, said senior author Manel Esteller of the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute in Barcelona.

In the new study, Esteller and his team set out to characterize, at the molecular level, random people who objectively share similar facial features.

To do this, they recruited human doppelgangers from photographs by François Brunelle, a Canadian artist who has been collecting doppelganger photographs around the world since 1999. They received photos of 32 couples that looked alike. The researchers determined an objective measure of the similarity of these pairs using three different facial recognition algorithms.

In addition, participants completed a comprehensive biometric and lifestyle questionnaire and provided saliva DNA for multiomic analysis.

Overall, the results showed that these individuals have similar genotypes but differ in DNA methylation and microbiome landscape. Half of the similar pairs were clustered by all three algorithms.

What's more, physical traits such as weight and height, as well as behavioral traits such as smoking and education, were correlated in similar pairs. Taken together, the findings suggest that common genetic variation is not only associated with similar appearance, but may also influence common habits and behaviors.

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